Support for ladders



Feb. 14, 1939. A. M. VAN RIPER I 2,147,473

SUPPORT FOR LADDERS Filed Sept. 4, 1957 E I\ TO R MA/AIPHP ATTORNEYS bracket is braced against the side of a building of any suitable mater a su a sheet metal, 40

45 the ladder is concerned side members 6 and 8 may be rolled as shown at 45 5 given to the bracket and its associated brace tion- 50 member to provide adequate support for the lad- The leg 2 0f the bracket as w a der at any desired inclination of the ladder to Combined hinge and link Connection to a rung M the vertical. of the ladder, the ladder being shown as made up -e55 tion is the provision of a pivotal connection be- This hinge and. link. connection comprises two 55 Patented Feb. 14, 1939 a 2,147,473

UNITED STATES aP-AT E'NT OFFICE SUPPORT FOR LADDERS Albert M. VanRiper, Bayside, Long Island, N. Y.

Application September 14,1937, Serial No. 162,485

7 Claims. (Cl. 228-31) This invention relates to supports for ladders tween the brace and the bracket, in combination and has for its general object to provide a supwith a hinged connection between the bracket port for an ordinary ladder which will permit and the ladder, to permit the convenient raisthe ladder to be placed alongside the side of a ins f he ladder nd s r in in pr per supbuilding upon which work is to be done, and im- Ported position by a sin Operator- 5 mediately adjacent thereto throughout its length, The invention also contemplat the provision and to be held safely at the usual ladder inof means r v ry n th ngth of one of the clination to the vertical by means of a single -p eces 0 the ladder to accommodate it to ground-engaging brace member, slight inclinations Of the ground adjacent to the 10 i When an ordinary ladder is leaned against Side Of a building- 10 th id of a building on which work is t he Other objects and important features of the done and is inclined sufficiently to the vertical to invention Will pp from the following def r a safe Support fo t workman, t i b. scription and claims when considered in convious that if the ladder be of any substantial heetien With the acco pa ying drawing in length the workman can reach the building from 9 15 the ladder for only a short distance from its top. 1 15a p spective View of an embodiment There is t required for the painting f a of the present invention, a portion of the ladder house of substantial height, for example, either and a Portion of e b ac me ber being broken an extensible ladder or a series of ladders of away to permit Showing the Parts On a larger different lengths and the workman has only a e; 20 limited field of operation from any one position 2 is a perspective View illustrating the of an l dd mode of use of the invention;

An obje t, of the present invention is to Fig. 3 is an elevation also illustrating the mode vide a simple and conveniently manipulated atof Else; and

't t for an ordinary ladder which W111 pen Fig. l is a detail view of the ladder side-piece 25 it th 1adder t be placed edgewise to and extension attachment for use on sloping ground. mediately' adjacent to the Side of a building on In the illustrative embodimentof the inven- Whicn Work is to be done and to be afely tion the bracket, which when positioned against ported i thi position so th t t workman the side of a building and braced in position promay move freely and confidently up and d n vides a support for the ladder connected there- 30 the ladder while working within convenient may he described as Comprising a or legs reach of the side wall of the building at all 2 d 4 tin to form arieht an le, t s s i t on th dd being connected by side members 6 and 8, which An important feature of the invention is the Serve tWe p p first, t y s tute braces provision of a bracket, preferably attachable to for the legs 2 and 4, and Secondly, y Serve to 35 and detachable from the ladder so that it can cOhfihe against lateral ovement a brace membe used, if desired, with ladders of different her it which pr s sub a y into he verlengths, which is constructed to cooperate with a teX 0f the angle wee the legs 2 a d brace member in such manner that when the The ladder Supporting bracket ay be formed where the connected ladder is to be located it is Preferably Sheet Steel to give the required substantially equivalent to a bracket support for Strength and rigidity To give e bracket adthe ladder positively connected to said side, so ditional Stiffness, the Sheet tal may be corfar as the character of the support furnished to rugated, as Shown, and the Outer edges of the Another important feature of the invention is N50, for Providing better bearing rfaces the provision of a hinged link connection bein the difielent angular positions Which the tween the ladder-supporting bracket and the acket will assume in use, the legs 2 and 4 ay ladder so that the proper inclination may be be both corrugated and ly convex in sec- Still another important feature of the invenof'the usual rungs l4 and side-pieceslfi and I8.

pairs of hinge members hinged to staples 22, positively connected to the leg 2, the hinge members 20 being adapted to embrace the rung l4 and to be held in a lost motion connection thereto by means of a bolt 24 and wing nut 26.

In practice the Wing nut is not tightened surficiently to clamp the hinge members 20 against the rung H but allows the hinge members to swing about the rung M as an axis and also to slide somewhat over the rung, so that the bolt 24 can move toward and away from the rung. This freely movable link and hinge connection between the leg 2 of the bracket and the ladder rung l4 permits the parts to adjust themselves readily to various relative positions of the bracket, ladder and brace.

The brace member 10, which serves to hold .the bracket in ladder supporting position against the side of a building alongside which the ladder is to be located, is preferably pivotally connected to the bracket so that it will not slip out of its position in the slot between the side walls 6 and .8 of the bracket and so that the various parts can :readily be manipulated when placing the ladder in position alongside the wall where it is desired to use it. As herein shown, the end of the brace member I!) within the bracket is rounded as illustrated at 28, this rounded end being preferably .concentric with the bearing for the bolt 30, provided with the wing nut 32, which serves as the connection between the bracket and the brace member In and also as the pivot about which the brace member In swings between the two legs 2 and 4.

The manner of use of the invention is shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. The ladder, with the connected bracket and brace member, which can be swung into a position in which the brace member ID is substantially parallel to the ladder side-piece I8, is raised against the side of the building where the ladder is to be located, with the bracket and the brace member upon the outside and with the ladder in a plane substantially parallel to the side of the building, and also with its base preferably substantially where it is desired that the base of the ladder shall rest when the ladder has assumed its inclined position. The ladder is then ,given a half turn to bring the upright leg 4 of 'the bracket adjacent to the side of the building and the bottom of the brace Ii! is then moved away from the base of the ladder until the ladder has been given the desired inclination, the bottom or the brace I0 being at the same time moved away from the building until the brace member In is brought into proper bracing relation to the bracket. The ladder bracket and brace member will then assume the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

If the ground adjacent to the building slopes away from the building it may be desirable to provide that side of the ladder which is to rest on the lower level with an extension so that both sides of the ladder will have proper ground support. Suitable extension means for this purpose which permit ready adjustment to different desired extensions are illustrated in detail in Fig. 4 of the drawing. A slidable extension piece 34 having attached thereto near its upper end a short channel member 36 adapted to embrace closely the side-piece (E of the ladder extends through a clamping device 38 which also comprises a short channel embracing the side-piece l6 of the ladder, the clamping device 38 being provided with an inclined'slot 40 in one side of its channel and having a flange 42 on the other side of its channel on which is mounted a lever arm 44 extending into the slot 40. When the lever arm 44 is moved upward in the slot by the handle 46 it presses the extension piece into tight clamping relation to the side-piece I 6 of the ladder. It will be noted that the slot is so located that any tendency of the extension piece 34 to move upwardly will tend to swing the lever arm 44 into tighter clamping relation to the extension piece 34.

What I claim as new is:

1. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket-like structure having an edge adapted to bear against a wall alongside which the ladder is to be placed and another edge on which the ladder may rest when the first-mentioned edge is in bearing position and having side members defining a slot between said edges for receiving and laterally confining a bracket supporting brace, and means for effecting freely swingable connections .between said bracket-like structure and the ladder with which it is to be associated.

2. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket having intersecting legs, connections by which one leg of said bracket may be so adjustably connected to the ladder that the other leg may bear against a wall alongside which the ladder is to be stationed, said bracket being provided with means for laterally confining a bracket supporting brace extended into the vertex of the angle between said legs.

3. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket having one leg provided with hinged connecting means by which it may be connected to a ladder rung and another leg adapted to bear against the side of a wall when the ladder to which the first mentioned leg is connected is placed alongside said wall, and means for laterally confining a bracket supporting brace extended into the vertex of the angle between said legs while permitting said brace to swing freely between said legs.

4. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket having two legs, one of which may be so connected to the ladder that the other will be in position to bear against a wall alongside which the ladder is stationed, a brace for said bracket adapted to swing to difierent angular relations to the respective legs and means for confining the swinging movement of said brace to movement in the plane determined by said legs.

5. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket having intersecting legs, linkand hinge connections by which one leg of said bracket may be so connected to the rung of a ladder that the bracket may swing bodily into different angular relations to the plane of the ladder and that the said connected bracket leg may also assume different angular relations to the rung, said bracket being provided with sidemembers spaced to form a brace receiving slot between the legs for receiving and guiding a braceextended into the vertex of the angle between said legs.

6. Ladder supporting means comprising a bracket having intersecting legs and spaced side members providing a guide-way for a brace memher extended substantially into the vertex of the angle between said legs, means for so connecting one leg of said bracket to a ladder as to permit said ladder to rest on said leg in difierent angular relations to the plane of the bracket while permitting the other leg of the bracket to be pressed against a wall, alongside which said ladder is to be placed, by means of the aforesaid brace brace, and means for efiecting freely swingable member. connections between said bracket-like structure '7. Ladder supporting means comprising a and the ladder with which it is to be associated, bracket-like structure having an edge adapted to in combination with means for so adjusting the bear against a wall alongside which the ladder is length of one of the ladder side-bars as to ac- 5 to be placed and another edge on which the commodate the base of the ladder to the pitch of ladder may rest when the first-mentioned edge the ground adjacent to the wall alongside which is in bearing position and having side members the ladder is stationed. defining a. slot between said edges for receiving ALBERT M. VAN RIPER. 10 and laterally confining a bracket supporting 10 

